


a warning and a request

by OpenPandorasBox



Series: Slow Show [6]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 16:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpenPandorasBox/pseuds/OpenPandorasBox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma expelled a long breath of her own.  Her eyes sparked with something similar to her delight in the lab but altogether sharper. "I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to come back in one piece."</p><p>"Have you met Fitz?" Ward asked dryly. "For that matter, have you forgotten what it is we do here?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	a warning and a request

"That's starting to get creepy."

"Am I making you uncomfortable, Agent Ward?"

"Uncomfortable was five minutes in. We've reached downright disturbed at this point.  Am I not assembling this gear to your liking or something?"

"Or something.  Go with 'or something'."

Ward sighed.  Tossing his pack down on the boxes of gear he'd spent the better part of an hour assembling with Jemma staring at him all the while, he turned to face her across the cargo bay.  

Arms crossed, he stared right back.  "Care to fill me in, Dr. Simmons, or would you like to turn this into a game of 20 questions?"

Jemma stood up from her seat on the hard metal staircase and walked towards Ward, shoulders back, back straight. "You're going to bring him back."

"Bring him back?"  Ward frowned in confusion. "Who? Fitz?  Of course I'm bringing him back.  Were you expecting me to just leave him there because as tempting as they may be - and I'm sure it's going to become even more tempting the more time I spend with him, alone and without you as my trusty interpreter-"

Tossing her hands up in exasperation, Jemma resisted the urge to poke him in the chest with her finger. "It's hardly my fault that you have a problem understanding basic scientific concepts."

Rolling his eyes, Ward declared, "Quantum entanglement is not a basic scientific concept." 

Jemma stood barely an arm's length away from his now and Ward could make out the two spots of colour that had risen high on her cheeks.

"Regardless of your ability to understand particle decay," Jemma pushed back the bangs that had fallen across her face and took another step closer to Ward. She was forced to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact, but now she didn't resist the urge to poke him in the chest to emphasize her point, "you're going to bring Fitz back and you're going to bring him back exactly as he was when you left."

Ward's gaze moved down from her eyes to the finger she was using to press a hole into the center of his chest.  He shifted his gaze back up to hers, one eyebrow arched and took a long breath before he responded. "You're being unreasonable."

Jemma expelled a long breath of her own.  Her eyes sparked with something similar to her delight in the lab but altogether sharper. "I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to come back in one piece."

"Have you met Fitz?" Ward asked dryly. "For that matter, have you forgotten what it is we do here?"

"I have not forgotten, Agent Ward."  Jemma eyes softened now.  The bright spark faded into something altogether too solemn and sad for the usually bright and cheerful scientist.  It made Ward's gut tighten uncomfortably and he shifted his shoulders in an attempt to lessen the sensation.  

"I am aware," Jemma continued softly. She was looking down at her hand.  Her finger still pressed against his chest, but her whole demeanor had softened.  She relaxed her hand, pressing her whole palm against his chest above his crossed arms. It took him completely by surprise.  Ward sucked in a breath when she looked up from her hand to level him with her dark eyes wide and tentative. "I am all too aware of what it is we do and I am also aware - more so than anyone else aboard this plane - of Fitz."

Ward didn't know which he wanted to do more at the moment; pull away from her hand or lean into it.  He chose to remain immobile instead, all of his muscles tensing in preparation for what, he didn't know.  His head was the only part of his body he allowed to move when he brought it closer to her face to ask quietly, "In your infinite awareness, do you also happen to be aware of my job on this team?"

"I am." Ward didn't think he would have caught her response if he weren't close enough to feel her breath it across his skin.

"Then you know that I won't let anything happen to him if I can help it."

"And if you can't? Help it that is. What happens then, Agent Ward?"

There was silence between them for a heartbeat.

For two.

On the third, Ward slowly expelled the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.  His breath fanned the wisps of hair at the sides of her face, blowing them back before they fell again lightly against her cheeks.

Her eyes widened ever so slightly, eyes darkening, and that uncomfortable tightness was back low in Ward's gut.  This time he didn't do anything to attempt to lessen it.

He knew.  He knew what would lessen it and it wasn't something he was prepared to do.  Not now.

Not yet.

"I'll bring him back." He said it with quiet conviction, hoping to convey in those words everything he couldn't say aloud. Ward knew he shouldn't make promises - that he couldn't make any kind of promises - but in that moment, with her dark eyes seeing directly into him and her hand burning against his chest, he honestly thought he would have promised her world peace if she'd asked him for it.

Silence again save for the steady hum of the airplane around them.

One heartbeat.  Then two and on the third, Ward could have sworn that Jemma had swayed just a fraction of an inch closer before she'd used the hand splayed against his chest to gently push herself away.

Taking a step back, Jemma gave Ward a grateful nod and a small smile.

He returned the nod with a smile of his own and tore his eyes away from her when she used one hand - the same hand he could still feel pressing into his heart - to brush at the hair on her cheeks.  Turning around, he resumed packing for the mission.

"Grant?"

Ward turned around, eyes widening slightly at the sound of his name falling from her lips.  He raised one shoulder questioningly at her.

"Make sure you come back too."

 


End file.
